Philosophy 290-6

We will look at some recent work in metaethics, focusing on questions about reasons for action and (practical) normativity, which have attracted a very lively contemporary discussion. Issues to be discussed include the objectivity of reasons; the connections between reasons and rational agency; the naturalistic challenge to normativity; the prospects for understanding discourse about reasons without postulating normative facts or truths; and the relations between reasons for action and the agent’s desires.

Works to be discussed include recent contributions by Blackburn, Parfit, Raz, Scanlon, Street, Thomson, and others.